Suzanne Carbone

MAYBE it's just me but after the splendour of the royal wedding red-carpet arrivals, the Logies resembled a small-town rodeo with celebrity wrangling as the main event.

But instead of Beatrice and Eugenie fossicking through the dress-up box of a repertory theatre company for their costumes, Brynne Edelsten provided the shock of the night by covering her cleavage in a blue gown.

''It is very hard to do, but it is possible,'' she said during the VIP arrivals at TV's night of nights and fashion frights outside Crown.

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There was a whiff of regal air when teams from Today and Sunrise arrived jetlagged from their London flight. Gold Logie nominee Karl Stefanovic arrived at 5.30am yesterday after four hours' sleep, saying: ''It's been a busy 24 hours.''

Lisa Wilkinson had her colleagues perplexed when she fell asleep during the flight with her hand in a lamb pie. ''That's how tired I was,'' she said.

MasterChef judges Matt Preston, George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan symbolise the masters of the ratings universe. There they were sauntering at the Logies while the 2011 launch of their program was pitted against the telecast. Another fashion shock was Preston not wearing a cravat but a silk bow tie. Knock-about Calombaris, with his tie askew, said: ''Hopefully the food is going to be great, but I had a bowl of pasta before I left home.''

With the assistance of free-flowing beverages, some Logies guests say too much as the night rolls on. Free speech and Twitter became an issue long before Clarence House politely closed the door on the Chaser mocking the royal family by imposing restrictions on TV footage.

Logies organisers imposed a gag order by banning mobile phones to prevent insulting Twitter comments hijacking the night. The Chaser's Julian Morrow had this message for Her Majesty: ''Thanks for the day off. The whole of England had a day off and Australia had to work but we got the day off.''

Logies nominee Adam Hills gave the nation permission to use cliches, saying: ''I'd love to take a Logie home. The cliche is true that it's great to be nominated. Logies host Shane Bourne arrived tie-less with daughter Rubie, revealing the secret behind his relaxed attitude: ''I've sniffed a bit of lavender.''

There was a slight emergency over Andy Lee's Arthur Galan suit: a security tag was discovered on the trousers and removed 25 minutes before he was due on the red carpet. Hamish Blake wore a Sale of the Century pin he bought on eBay for $50, an unintentional tribute to Tony Barber, who was among the guests. Lee's ex-girlfriend, Megan Gale, arrived a few minutes later, feeling the chill on her back in her white Alex Perry gown, but Lee embraced her later on, inducing a warm, nostalgic glow.

Brynne hid her bosoms but serial cleavage flasher Susie Elelman had hers on display and for the record: they're real. Brynne said her look was ''1940s Hollywood glamour'' and stunned everyone by leaving the house without a sequin or feather but hubby Geoffrey put on a light show with diamantes on his bow tie, lapel, pockets and pendant.

The Logies and the word ''gravitas'' combined for possibly the first time with the appearance of Laurie Oakes, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame. ''I've never been invited before,'' Oakes said, accompanied by wife Kathryn. Referring to his gong: ''It's the highest accolade the industry has got.''

Virginia Trioli was a contender for the cheekbones award, poking fun at her on-air blooper while posing for a snap with ABC News 24 co-host Michael Rowland. She said: ''Here's Michael and Michael.''

Rachel Griffiths did not parade on the red carpet but snuck in later to present the Silver Logie for the most outstanding drama series, miniseries or telemovie. Griffiths wore her own Dolce & Gabbana dress and diamonds worth $75,000 from Collins Street jeweller Anton.

Jamie Durie, an attractive garden feature, summed up the Logies: ''It's about giving each other a bloody big pat on the back, Aussie style.'' Or that other great Aussie tradition of sledging someone in less than 160 characters.